Wall elements



- Jan. 21,' 1958 A. N. COOPER WALL ELEMENTS Filed Sept. 14. 195E M 7 m2.1 n m l a I f 6 w; z 2 m a Y INVENTOR. ALVA N. COOPER United St Thisinvention relates to improvements .in cribbing elements, that 'is, toimprovements in the members, particularly, headers, that are employed tobuild up :a Wall that may be used to hold back earth and water-or may:be employed to prevent the .earth and water from advancing.

This invention is an improvement .on applicants pending applicationSerial No. 281,203, filed April :8, 1952.

i .As set forth in the said pending application, the cribbing membersare generally designated as stretchers and headers, the former extendingin the direction of the wallwwhile the latter extends transversely of ornormal to the wall. The headers are employed for eifecting stretcherplacement and are :used as an anchor for the stretchers. Walls of thecribbing style in order to be effective and possess the desired lifemust be, in effect, flex-lble." By flexible is meant that the wall, orportions of the well, should be capable of slight displacement undertemporary disturbance or infrequent heavy pressure so that on cessationof the disturbance and the removal of pressure, the wall will return toits normal condition and position.

In the past and as disclosed in the above identified application, use ismade of a second set of stretc'hers at the rear or anchored ends of theheaders and which, while producing a highly efficient wall structure, iscostly in the use of said second set of stretchers. By the presentinvention the second set of stretchers is eliminated and means,incorporated with the headers, are employed for properly spacing theheaders with respect to one another and for anchoring purposes. Thestretchers and headers are otherwise substantially similar and areproduced in block form, rectangular in cross-section, and of from 4" x6" x 24" long to '18" x 24'" x 72" long. It is to be understood thatthcsedimensions are merely by way of example since the sizes can bematerially changed and varied depending upon conditions and use. headersand stretchers are produced in precast form and suitably reinforced. V

" The principal object, therefore, of the present invention is theprovision of a cribbing wall header precast for interengagement with aprecast stretcher and which header incorporates therein means forspacing its rear end from a header immediately therebeneath inaccordance with the spacing of the stretchers.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a header for acribbing wall which will accomplish the foregoing object and whichsuperimposed headers have means for interlocking and aligning them withone another.

[A further obieet of the present invention is the provision .of acribbing wall empl y ng et her f r h exposed face thereof .onlyandemploying headers which have their forward ends interlocked with the.stretehers and their rear ends interlocked and spaced in accordancewith thespacing of the front .end thereof.

tes PatentO ,It is further to be understood that the said ice A stillfurther and specific object of the present invention is the provision ofa header for a cribbing wall which has at one end means for flexiblyinterlocking it with streachers and at its other end means :forinterlocking and spacing it from the corresponding end of a headerdisposed therebelow.

Other objects .and advantages of the present invention should bereadilyapparent by reference to the following specification consideredin. conjunction with the accompanying drawings forming a part thereofand it is to be understood that any modifications may be made in theexact structural details there shown and described, within the scope ofthe appended claims, without departing from or exceeding the spirit ofthe invention.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view .of a stretcher for use with the improvedheader of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the stretcher of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the stretcher as seen fromline 33 on Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the improved header of the presentinvention.

Fig. '5 is along'itudina'l sectional view through the header of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a cribbing wall erected from thestretchers and headers of Figs. 1 to 5.

Throughout the several views of the drawings similar referencecharacters are employed to denote the same or similar parts.

Specifically, and as seen in Figs. 1 to 3 the stretcher comprises aprecast block of concrete substantially rectangular in transversecrosssection and of considerable length by comparison to its width andheight and indicated by the reference numeral 10. The stretcher it) hasan upper face 11, a lower face 12, an outer or front face 13, and aninner or rear face 14. inwardly of each of its ends the upper face 11 isprovided with a depression 15 and 16 which are substantially identicalinform and one of which depressions will, therefore, be described indetail for the .other.

Accordingly, the depression 15 has downwardly extending parallel sides17 and 1'8, having a relatively shallow depth 19.at the inner or rearface 14 and a relatively deeper depth '20 in the outer face '13. Inother words, the depression 15 has a base or bottom 21 which inclinesupwardly from the front face to the rear face with parallel side walls.

The stretcher 10 is provided upwardly of its lower face 12 withdepressions 22 and 23 which are identical with the depressions 15 and 15are are respectively disposed immc: diately below the said upper facedepressions. In other Words, thedepress'ion Z2 is in vertical alignmentwith the depression 15 and the depression 23 is in .vertical alignmentwith the depression 16.

Disposed inwardly and centrally of the stretcher and longitudinallythereof is a reinforcing member or bar formed from a single length ofmaterial and comprises a body portion 24 .of a length just short of thelength of the stretcher and having-a U-shaped bend at each end therebyproviding inwardly extending arms 25 and 26. The .U-sha ped bends 27 and28 are located just inwardly of the ends .of the stretcher with the arms25 and 26 pro jecting inwardly .of the stretcher ends to be between thestretcher depressions, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. By thisconstructionthe stretcher is reinforced throughout its length withparticular reinforcement at the weakest portion of the stretcher,namely, between the bases -of the depressions thereof. The headerillustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 is similar to the stretcher in that it isof precast concrete and has p;

Patented Jan. 21, 1958 rectangular cross-section of considerable lengthby comparison to its width and height and is indicated in the drawingsby the reference numeral 29. The header 29 has an upper face 30, a lowerface 31, an outer or front face 32, and an inner or rear face 33. Theone end of the header 29 is provided with a keystone shaped key or lug,indicated in general by the reference numeral 34. The lug 34 has itsupper face 35 and its lower face 36 converging, which faces terminate ina shoulder 37 normal to the axis through the header. The side faces 38and 39 of the lug 34 are parallel with one another and likewiseterminate in the shoulder 37.

The other end of the-header 29 is downwardly turned, as at 40, toprovide an integral spacing member of a width equal to the width of theheader. The bottom face of the turned down or spacer portion 40 isprovided with a projecting lug 41 which extends for the full width ofthe header. Inwardly of said rear end of the header it is provideddownwardly of its top face 30 with a transverse groove or slot 42. Thegroove or slot 42 is located in vertical alignment with the lug 41 andis of the same width and depth as said lug.

The header 29, similar to the stretcher 10, is reinforced centrally andlongitudinally thereof by a reinforcing member or bar. The reinforcingmember or bar, similar to the reinforcing member or bar of thestretcher, is formed of a single length of material and comprises a bodyportion 43 provided at one end with a U-shaped bend 44 from whichprojects a relatively short arm 45. The body portion 43 is of a lengthjust short of the length of the header, and as seen from Fig. 5, theU-shaped bend 44 is located adjacent the front or keystone shaped key orlug end of the header or is disposed substantially centrally of the saidkeystone lug or key 34, with the said arm 45 extending into the headerbeyond the shoulder 37 for thereby reinforcing the header at itsnarrowest point, namely, the neck, formed where the surfaces of the lug34 join with the shoulder 37. The other end of the reinforcing member orbar body portion 43 is down turned, as at 46, to be substantiallycentrally of the down turned or spacing portion 40 of the header 29.

The erection of a cribbing wall from the above described stretchers andheaders is believed obvious particularly from illustration in Fig. 6 butbriefly is as follows:

A course of stretchers would first be laid, end to end, whereupon aheader would be fitted into each of the depressions, such as 15 and 16,in the upper face of each stretcher. The fitting of a header into saiddepression would merely require the placing of a keystone lug or key 34therein. As is obvious from the drawings, the lower face 31 of eachheader would thereby be spaced upwardly of the lower face 12 of thestretchers. The down turned or spacing portion 40 of the headers, beingformed to a dimension equal to the spacing of the said lower face 31 ofthe header and lower face 12 of the spacer, would rest on the supportingsurface of the spacer for thereby arranging the header to have its axisin a plane parallel with the axis of the stretcher or in the plane ofthe top face 11 of the stretcher.

After the placement of the first courses of stretchers and headers, asecond course of stretchers is disposed on the first course with thedepressions in the bottom face of said stretchers each disposed on a lugor key 34 of a header. It should be noted that the second course ofstretchers is laid end to end in the same manner as the first course,but the joints of the said second course are offset with respect to thejoints of the first course. This method of erection is obtained byplacing the left hand end of the stretchers of the second course overthe right hand end of the first course. Each succeeding course issimilarly laid with respect to the course of stretchers immediatelybelow, and alternate courses of stretchers would commence with a halfstretcher.

The second course of headers is now positioned with respect to thestretchers in the same manner as above set forth with respect to saidfirst course of headers. The second course of headers each has itsspacing por-- tion lug 41 disposed in the groove or slot 42 of theheader immediately therebelow for thereby properly spacing the headersfrom one another and maintaining same in parallelism but also keying orinterlocking said rear ends of the headers to one another. It isbelieved obvious that the interlock of the rear ends of the headers withone another maintain them in position so that should a disturbance occurwhich would tend to disrupt the cribbing wall, the parts would move withrespect to one another sufliciently to prevent rupture and dislocationbut that said parts would be subsequently guided to their initialpositions.

In view of the foregoing, it is believed obvious that there has beenprovided a structure which will accomplish the objects initially setforth.

What is claimed is:

1. As an article of manufacture a wall element or header having a bodyportion extending from a front end to a rear end, a reduced projectinglug at the front end, a down turned spacing portion at the rear end ofthe body portion, and a reinforcing element longitudinally of the bodyportion interiorly thereof and provided with a U-shaped bend at itsfront end providing a second reinforcing element extending from saidheader body portion front end to a point inwardly of the reducedprojecting lug, and said reinforcing element having a down turnedportion extending into the down turned and spacing rear end of theheader.

2. As an article of manufacture a wall element or header having a bodyportion extending from a front end to a rear end, a reduced projectinglug at the front end, a down turned spacing portion at the rear end ofthe body portion, and a downwardly projecting lug from the down turnedspacing portion, and said header having a slot in its top surfacetransversely thereof and in vertical alignment with the downwardlyprojecting lug.

3. As an article of manufacture a wall element or header having a bodyportion extending from a front end to a rear end, a reduced projectinglug at the front end, a down turned spacing portion at the rear end ofthe body portion, a downwardly projecting lug from the down turnedspacing portion, said header having a slot in its top surface invertical alignment with the downwardly projecting lug, and a reinforcingelement longitudinally of the body portion interiorly thereof andprovided with a U-shaped bend at its front end providing a secondreinforcing element extending from said header body portion front end toa point inwardly of the reduced projecting lug, and said reinforcingelement having a down turned portion extending into the down turned andspacing rear end of the header.

4. A wall structure composed of a plurality of superimposed courses ofstretchers, each stretcher course comprising a plurality of stretcherblocks arranged in end to end abutment, each stretcher block having anupper face and a lower face into which is formed, inwardly from eachend, a recess, said recesses of superimposed stretcher courses lying inalignment to form between them sockets, a header having a projecting lugreceived in each socket and with said headers inwardly projecting fromthe stretchers, said headers being of less height than the stretchersand the headers being in vertical alignment, and spacing means integralwith each header at its rear end for spacing the headers from oneanother in parallelism.

5. A wall structure composed of a plurality of superimposed courses ofstretchers, each stretcher course comprising a plurality of stretcherblocks arranged in end to end abutment, each stretcher block having anupper face and a lower face into which is formed, inwardly from eachend, a recess, said recesses of superimposed stretcher courses lying inalignment to form between them sockets, a header having a projecting lugreceived in each socket and with said headers inwardly projecting fromthe stretcher's, said headers being of less height than the stretchersand the headers being in vertical alignment, and spacing means integralwith each header at its rear end for spacing the headers from oneanother in paral lelism, and co-operating means carried by each headerand its spacing portion for interlocking said headers to one another.

6. A wall structure composed of a plurality of superimposed courses ofstretchers, each stretcher course comprising a plurality of stretcherblocks arranged in end to end abutment, each stretcher block having anupper face and a lower face into which is formed, inwardly from eachend, a recess, said recesses of superimposed stretcher courses lying inalignment to form between them sockets, a header having a projecting lugreceived in each socket and with said headers inwardly projecting fromthe stretchers, said headers being of less height than the stretchersand the headers being in vertical alignment, and spacing means integralwith each header at its rear end for spacing the headers from oneanother in parallelism, each header having a lug projecting from itsintegral spacing means, and each header having a slot therein receivingthe projecting lug of the header immediately thereabove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS755,749 Cooley Mar. 29, 1904 1,588,118 Liptak June 8, 1926 2,081,417Antill May 25, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 5,502 Great Britain of 1906

